Man, this is one of those games that I needed to play awhile before it "clicked" with me. At first I had issues with the combat, but that was due to me being unprepared. And there is no hand holding here at all. It's more along the lines of tossing a kid into the water so they learn how to swim.

at least they put in a tutorial. when the game first released on PC they just tied a rope attached to a cinder block around your neck and pushed you off the pier.

Logged

Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Of course you can argue minutiae to prove that it's not A New Hope, but there are enough strong similarities there.

I know its a popular claim that New Hope uses it as a blueprint and I'm aware Lucas has admitted to being influenced by it, but I don't think its as exact a copy of the plot as most claim. I've watched Hidden Fortress a few times, despite it being far from my favorite Kurosawa film. Have you ever watched the 2 back -to- back? I have, and they don't seem nearly as similar if watched that way.

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I haven't played Witcher 2 yet (or watched/read Game of Thrones), so I can't comment on the similarities, but it's sounding like you have an issue with GoT and are irked that some are finding similarities. Alternately, it may be that you revere the Witcher series and are upset that some seem to say it's copying something that came before.

Nope, I've also enjoyed the A Song of Fire & Ice series. It's just that I see more dissimilar between the 2 than similar.

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Hell, I love both The Magnificent Seven and The Seven Samurai. Even with those two, you could argue details that make the films different. But, come one, the former is a reskinning of the latter.

No argument from me there. The writer stated how inspired he was by the 7 Samurai. Its also one of the main reasons Yul Brenner was attracted to it and also even chose to get in on some of the production.

Anyhow, people can continue to claim similarites between Witcher 2 and AGoT all they want. I'm done with contributing any further to this threads derailment.

I bought the 360 version at a local EB (EB Canada) this week for $20 due to their generous trade-2-in offer. Heck they even gave me $20 in that deal just for my 4 year old copy of the Orange Box. With what's included in the Enhanced Edition box, I consider it to be about the best game deal I've ever made.

So how did everyone enjoy, or how are you enjoying, the Letho fight? For me he was 1 heckuva a tought opponent - made the Kayran fight seem easy.

Yeah, he was really tough. He was the second fight that made me turn the difficulty down to "easy" (the first was fighting wraiths before I understood that I needed a silver sword to do any real damage). Unfortunately, "easy" was too easy and there was no challenge at all.

So how did everyone enjoy, or how are you enjoying, the Letho fight? For me he was 1 heckuva a tought opponent - made the Kayran fight seem easy.

Yeah, he was really tough. He was the second fight that made me turn the difficulty down to "easy" (the first was fighting wraiths before I understood that I needed a silver sword to do any real damage). Unfortunately, "easy" was too easy and there was no challenge at all.

Yep, he's 1 boss where the temption to drop to 'easy' was strong. I finally managed him with

Spoiler for Hiden:

Ard>Strong>Strong combos while being careful he's forced up against a wall

, but not before dieing a number of times. Can't wait to upgdrade to the level of Quen he had.

As to Wraiths, they're actually very easy if you do this:

Spoiler for Hiden:

spam Quen and then fast attack with your silver sword. They usually go down well before your quen dissipates.

spam Quen and then fast attack with your silver sword. They usually go down well before your quen dissipates.

My problem was not realizing I needed a silver sword. I've fought wraiths since then and they are much, much easier.

Ah, now that would be a problem. I didn't try venture into the asylum until I was about lvl 7 and by that time I had both the money and ingredients to have both swords crafted for me and enhanced with some runes.

So far my only beef with this game is them adding the Fulgur substance to alchemy and making it 1 of the key indredients for the Tawny Owl poition. The problem is that that substance can only be extracted from certain animal parts which often just happen to be important quest items. I pooched my Melitele Heart quest using the Endregor embryos for ingredients without realizing it; not a biggy as the Heart only gives you +1 Vigor. And of course not using those ingredients makes you able to create more Tawny Owl which is damn handy and sell the medallion for some decent $. I've gotten wiser now and make sure I store important quest ingredients before mixing. That said, considering you've already lost the ability to consume potions at will, IMO CDPR really shouldn't have made Tawny Owl dependent on a such a rare substance. It wasn't that easy to produce in Witcher 1, but it also wasn't nearly as difficult.

I find aether to be far more rare than fulgur. I'm not exactly swimming inf fulgur but it's never a limiting factor for alchemy for me. But I don't use tawny owl much since vigor regeneration is already pretty fast. I much prefer to use Swallow since health regen tends to be more important for my buildd.

So far my only beef with this game is them adding the Fulgur substance to alchemy and making it 1 of the key indredients for the Tawny Owl poition. The problem is that that substance can only be extracted from certain animal parts which often just happen to be important quest items. I pooched my Melitele Heart quest using the Endregor embryos for ingredients without realizing it; not a biggy as the Heart only gives you +1 Vigor. And of course not using those ingredients makes you able to create more Tawny Owl which is damn handy and sell the medallion for some decent $. I've gotten wiser now and make sure I store important quest ingredients before mixing. That said, considering you've already lost the ability to consume potions at will, IMO CDPR really shouldn't have made Tawny Owl dependent on a such a rare substance. It wasn't that easy to produce in Witcher 1, but it also wasn't nearly as difficult.

I came in here to see what's up with this game and then I read this post and understood about 4 words.

I find aether to be far more rare than fulgur. I'm not exactly swimming inf fulgur but it's never a limiting factor for alchemy for me. But I don't use tawny owl much since vigor regeneration is already pretty fast. I much prefer to use Swallow since health regen tends to be more important for my buildd.

I drink both when I know I'm going in for a tough fight; although I've noted Swallow doesn't work nearly as well in W2. Then again I'm only currenlty lvl 13 so I haven't been able to take every skill yet that can help with rate of Vigor regeneration

Quote from: Devil on May 04, 2012, 01:14:49 AM

I came in here to see what's up with this game and then I read this post and understood about 4 words.

Bottom line; Tawny Owl is a potion that aids Vigor regen, which is critical for evoking magic signs and doing some fancy combat moves while blocking.

I find aether to be far more rare than fulgur. I'm not exactly swimming inf fulgur but it's never a limiting factor for alchemy for me. But I don't use tawny owl much since vigor regeneration is already pretty fast. I much prefer to use Swallow since health regen tends to be more important for my buildd.

I drink both when I know I'm going in for a tough fight; although I've noted Swallow doesn't work nearly as well in W2. Then again I'm only currenlty lvl 13 so I haven't been able to take every skill yet that can help with rate of Vigor regeneration

Quote from: Devil on May 04, 2012, 01:14:49 AM

I came in here to see what's up with this game and then I read this post and understood about 4 words.

Bottom line; Tawy Owl is a potion that aids Vigor regen, which is critical for evoking magic signs and doing some fancy combat moves while blocking.

I just started it again(after going off the rails due to other games),and just made Flotsam...i read about Tawny Owl being a reward for something,i was kinda hoping i would have my very own Owl flying about,kinda like Harry Hamlin in Clash Of The Titans(original)

Again,i have just lost interest in this,nothing that is happening is gripping me,Inventory and Map interface are pretty much a mess as well,and the voice overs for some(Dandelion definitely)could be better

I'll see what i can do with it between now and when Dragons Dogma is released,but i'm expecting to trade it in towards DD come the release

I enjoying the crap out of this game, although it's been a bit easy for me lately. Thinking about moving it up to Hard. And I never use traps or potions, so I might be missing some interesting parts of the game.

ralph you must be a much better player than i am - while i too didnt bother with traps, i found potions to be a must before tough fights. also - seeing in the dark!!!

Agreed, I don't know what I would have done without my Swallow and Tawny Owl early in the game. Especially now that you must consume them while meditating. That said, I played the Witcher 1 quite a ways in before I really started exploring alchemy. I've used W2's traps a bit, but no where to the extent of potions and signing - and those bombs are...well... just the bomb!

when you fight those big ugly m-f'ers in the forest outside of flotsam, they are very useful. especially as you can set up a trail of them before triggering the big mama arachnid.

potions are hugely overpowering late game btw. you can stack some potions which let you wade in to large groups of fighters and just dominate them like you would in assassin's creed once you've learned the higher fighting skills. they are also a must in higher difficulties against the bosses.

except for the act 2 boss, who is tough until you bump up one of the spells, then he becomes comically easy.

I've found the mini map to be fairly useless. To ease navigating with the larger map I always ensure it's the active tab before I exit the menus. Then whenever I need a decent map it's only a single button press away. I do like that you can zoom in and out on it which IIRC you couldn't do in W1. Being able to get to the large map with a single button press made a world of difference for me; otherwise I found I fumbled with the menus because my mind was more focused on the lay of the land and where I was in it.

Ok....so I'm replaying the game on the other side and I fully understand why the reviews are all over the place. If you supported the Squirrels, you will absolutely want to snap your controller in half - the Dwarven area is so incredibly frustrating that it's hard to believe that it shipped this way. Quests that are supposed to be sidequests cannot be completed until you've moved the main story along, a minimap that makes you completely nuts, and other quests that are just simply broken or too vague as to have been tested not once but twice.

ON THE OTHER HAND....if you supported the other side and went to the camp, well...your sanity will likely remain intact.

I really loved this game, but damn it...I spent ENTIRELY too much time on Youtube / Gamefaqs to figure out some of this stuff. I do have to say that I enjoyed the difficulty and the fact that rated M meant that it was a game for adults, not just a game with adult themes jammed on top.

Ok....so I'm replaying the game on the other side and I fully understand why the reviews are all over the place. If you supported the Squirrels, you will absolutely want to snap your controller in half - the Dwarven area is so incredibly frustrating that it's hard to believe that it shipped this way. Quests that are supposed to be sidequests cannot be completed until you've moved the main story along, a minimap that makes you completely nuts, and other quests that are just simply broken or too vague as to have been tested not once but twice.

I supported the Squirrels and haven't had too hard a time figuring stuff out. The map was at first a bit confusing, but it became manageable pretty quickly once I learned to look for the dashed lines (they indicate a passage to a different part of the city).

Ok....so I'm replaying the game on the other side and I fully understand why the reviews are all over the place. If you supported the Squirrels, you will absolutely want to snap your controller in half - the Dwarven area is so incredibly frustrating that it's hard to believe that it shipped this way.

Can't comment too much because I didn't side with the Scoia'tel and I'm on my 1st play through. I can say that I've found this game to have far less hand-holding and guiding than Witcher 1. It seems that CDPR went for a more adventuring/exploration approach this time. Works for me because I was an adventure game fanatic once upon a time, and that element of the unknown and the need to discover is appreciated. I'm definitely going to replay and choose the Scoia'tel path if its more that way.

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uests that are supposed to be sidequests cannot be completed until you've moved the main story along, a minimap that makes you completely nuts, and other quests that are just simply broken or too vague as to have been tested not once but twice.

I really like side quests that require you to move the main story 1st. That way the dev can control the story and make it much more interesting and meaningful. I'm bouncing between this game and an ES IV Oblivion replay and I wish that element was much more in the latter. I'd also take that any day to the many JRPG's where you have to grind sidequests before you've leveled enough to take on the next main quest boss. I agree about the minimap, it just doesn't work for me. That said, as I stated in my other post, I like the larger menu map and changed my playstyle to make it work for me. And with a map key and zoom, I much prefer it to W1's map.

coming up to the end of chapter 2(Roche's Path)level 24 i think,I am liking it a bit more,been doing all the side quests as well,and although a lot of things can still be confusing i am finding the game a lot easier than i was expecting(playing on normal)..i was dreading going for the Gladiator achievement,but they lasted all of 30 seconds each,and i got a nice prize afterwards

Spoiler for Hiden:

sex scene with Ves

I just got a kickass silver sword(Blood Sword),and just discovered how to use those mutants

did anyone have any problems with the mini map?,i have just got near to the end of Chapter 2 and it no longer displays anything,its now all black with my cursor in the middle,it was displaying fine when i was in a cave then i came out to familiar settings and its now no longer displays anything,i have reloaded my game but its still broke

I beat the game yesterday. I'm pretty sure one of the final fights would've been damn near impossible if I hadn't accidentally had the game on easy (which made the fight ridiculously easy). Overall, I really enjoyed the game. I have a save back in chapter 1 where you have to pick between Roach and Iorvath. Has anyone done both and can tell me if it's worth replaying from that point (i.e. is the game different enough to warrant another play through)? As mentioned earlier, I barely used traps or bombs and I just now realized that I never used the mutations. Oh well. I still managed to reach the level cap (35) a good bit before the end and could rock most enemies without much of a problem.

I was escorting a girl through a forest,and i decided i needed some Queen Endrega's Pheromones for s side quest,so i cracked open some cocoons to entice the queen into play,when she did appear she fought with soldiers who were also after killing me and my woman,so headed into battle and fought with all

The thing is after the battle,i had no health left,at first i thought i had just managed to get through the battle on a slither of health...but then i realised my health was not recharging,nor was my magic,and then the fight after that it turns out i could not die,and also i couldn't use magic,because it did not recharge..reloaded my game and did the same thing with the queen and it did the same thing

so this time i reloaded again and just went for the soldiers,and killed them and then summoned the queen and fought her for her Pheromones and it was fine afterwards

very weird

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on another note,i may be getting to the end today or tomorrow,doesn't look like i have far to go

I got to like the game a lot more,but i can't help feeling a little disappointed in it,the first chapter i think was the best,with Flotsam and the surrounding forests and docks,villages,Inn's etc,the second chapter was alright with the encampment and surrounding areas(i went Roche's way),but chapter 3 area was just pig awful,with an annoyingly confusing city with half the place blocked off because of debris and you had to piss about to find your way around(i haven't been this pissed off at a city trying to find my way around since Fallout 3's D.C)

about the end

Spoiler for Hiden:

I chose to go after the child 'queen to be',instead of Triss,but then handed her over to the people Roche wanted to hand her over to(i reckon i should of persuaded Roche not to,for a better end scene)

I let Sila live in the unstable portal..reloaded,and then let her die I let the Dragon live,and then reloaded and then killed itI fought Letho and then reloaded and then let him walk

Dragon was easy took about a minute,Letho was a bit harder,i ended up running around that centre as he hit me bad right near the beginning,so i had to try and regen......after rolling and hitting him in the back a few times i caught him in magic trap and i just waded into him with strong attacks and he never had the chance to fight back

my two swords both had around damage 55,they kicked ass on everything

after the credits scene,i actually thought that was the kid all grown up and hadn't died afterall,maybe being kept secret(i dunno his name Busse or something,the 'bastard boychild' anyway),but i don't think it was..which is a shame,because that could of made a good story for number 3

I even started it again to go 'the other way',to try and mop up the achievements for that way(two in chapter 2 and one in chapter 3),but at the end of chapter 1(playing on easy this time and skipping all cutscenes took me about 2 hrs) i got stuck in the environment and i thought balls to it,so i was missing 4 achievements altogether(including Dark Mode playthru),i can live with that

They were mentioned quite a bit in Roche's path,and were quite central to the plot

Spoiler for Hiden:

King Henselt wanted to claim the throne,and when i had to tell them that the remaining child was a 'Bastard'(who was the rightful heir) he saw that was his way in

I would also like to know what the hell happened to Ves

Spoiler for Hiden:

The End of Chapter 2,Dethmold and Henslet executed all of Roche's Blue Stripes and hung them in the canteen Camp in Kaedweni Camp,when Geralt and Roche entered the camp,Ves was crying in the corner after supposedly being raped by Henselt(which is the main reason why i let Roche kill him later on)

After deciding the best way to get to Chapter 3's Loc Muinne,Geralt and Roche were to walk and Ves was to take the ship down the coast,and she leaves the tent,after she leaves Geralt says that she is lying,because there was no chance Dethmold would of left her alive